I spent Sunday afternoon at a family picnic, and then when I came home, I went looking for Carmen Sandiego. These two events aren’t related, but they could have been. I was talking to my brother about video games. My aunt had just returned from Europe, and we were talking about travel.

But the truth is that I was procrastinating. I was supposed to be writing about blackberries (they have not had the best summer), and when I realised that wasn’t working, I quickly outlined some recipes from my week in cooking to fill my eight pages. But none of my plans were coming together, and I was facing down my deadline.

Then I found this game, streaming online in its original form. This is exactly the Carmen Sandiego I remember. These colours, those pixels. I couldn’t stop playing. I didn’t really want to. When you don’t feel like thinking about the future, spending some time in the past is a comfort.